There was some discussion recently in the net about
usefulness of Duma Voters Lists, so I felt obliged to
post my success story.
I just published an article on 1912 Duma Voters Lists
(http://www.jewishgen.org/Belarus/newsletter/1912
DumaLink.htm) and their importance. Now I want to tell
how helpful they were in my personal research.
Some years ago I obtained records >from revision lists
and other documents >from Minsk archives considering
Gurevich in Chislavichi, Mstislavl uyezd. I knew that
my Great Grandfather's name was Moshe, but I did not
know his patronymic. Unfortunately, the records showed
more then one Moshe Gurevich, and I have not had my
Granfather's birtn record because Minsk archives do
not have Jewish vital records for Mstislavl uyezd.
There were Moshe Abramov (a son of Abram), Moshe
Aronov ( a son of Aron), and Moshe Morduchov in
Chislavichi at the same period. Which of them was my
ancestor? My grandfather had a cousin who's father's
name was Zalman. I found only one Zalman in
Chslavichi, Zalman Aronov, The meaning of that was
that Zalman was a brother of my Great grandfather, and
Aron was the name of their father. But in one of the
conscription documents I found that Moshe Aronov
Gurevich had died before 1881. I knew that sometimes
the Jews faked their death to escape conscription, so
I needed confirmation that Moshe Aronov was alive
after 1890 when my Grandfather had been born. This
confirmation I found in 1912 Duma Voters Lists for
Mogilev gubernia published by 1912 Mogilevskie
Gubernskie Vedomosti which microfilm I purchased from
Proquest company. Moshe Aronov Gurevich was found
there, and also Nison Aronov, his brother of whom I
had never heard earlier.
Now I knew the name of my Great-Great Grandfather and
could move forward through the revision lists. And I
found his Father's name, Aron, a son of Lippa, And I
found Lippa's name, Moshe. There were some other names
that repeated themselves through generations, and I
recognized some of them as of our family members in
the last generations.

Shlomo Gurevich
Hoshaya
Israel
shl2gur@...




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